Pakistan Street Photography Exhibition in Leeds

‘The country I was told not to visit’ –  Pakistan, a photography exhibition by Hamish Irvine

From the 7th May to the 28th June 2026, I’ll be opening a Pakistan street photography exhibition in Leeds at Seven Arts in Chapel Allerton, showing work from a recent trip photographing on the streets of Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi.

I’m hosting a free opening night on Thursday the 7th May from 7pm and all are welcome. Please come down, enjoy the work and join the conversation.

The work is on display at Seven Arts cafe for over a month, which is open from 11am to 11pm on Wednesdays through Sundays, all the work is displayed for all to see during opening hours. The Seven Arts space is a welcoming, calming and wonderful place to show the photographs, and I’m really proud to be exhibiting so locally to where I live too.

What’s the Pakistan photography exhibition all about?

‘The country I was told not to visit’ exhibition brings together 28 photographs from a twelve-day journey across Pakistan. It celebrates Pakistan, while also acknowledging the tensions and complexities it faces.

I chose to point my camera in the direction of daily life, focussing on the cheeky moments in between the ordinary ones, capturing the peace of Islam, the feeling of community across Pakistan, the effervescent children always out playing and the humbling everyday kindness granted to us and everyone else living there.

If you’d like to see more of the photographs and learn more about the work, click here.

Can’t make the exhibition? See all the work online

All the photographs and information is live here on my website for anyone who can’t make it to the exhibition in person.

Just click here to view the photographs from the Pakistan trip. Enjoy!

A little about me, Hamish Irvine and why I chose to photograph in Pakistan

Through the year, I’m a wedding photographer in Leeds, but during the winter months I like to travel with my camera. My wedding photography is colourful, fun and full of life. My travel photography I like to think is too.

Pakistan became a place I wanted to understand for myself. I went to school in Bradford, where many of my mates were Pakistani. They spoke about it with warmth and pride, which always stayed with me. At the same time, the version of Pakistan I saw in the media felt very different, and what I heard from people who had never been, felt very different. I wanted to see for myself.

What I found was beauty, generosity and a strong sense of community, but also challenges that are impossible to ignore, from poverty to inequality.

This work doesn’t try to define Pakistan. It’s simply a reflection of what I experienced while I was there, moments of connection, everyday life, and the feeling of being welcomed into places and conversations I never expected.

Get in touch about the Pakistan exhibition and join the conversation

If you’d like any more information on the exhibition please feel free to get in touch directly with me. It would be wonderful to meet anyone interested in the photography, or would like to find out more. My door is open.

Prints and frames are available for purchase, please enquire with me via email for sizes and pricing.

My email address is info@hamishirvine.com. You can see more of my work and reach out to me on instagram also @hamish.irvine

See a wider selection of photographs from the trip here

Thanks for joining!